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What keeps adults from doing what needs to be done or even from finding out what needs to be done and how to do it. What keeps them from acting on what they know? There are many factors. Let us start with what how the world is shaping us, what it says and how we listen. People in power or those who want to have it set themselves up as spokespeople presumably for our welfare.

Their definition and our definition of welfare rarely coincide. It is a good idea to ask what’s the payoff when someone gives directions. The oil and gas and coal industries do not want to be shut down. They get congress to support them via monetary contributions. These bought elected officials are pushed to speak of solar and wind power as inadequate and not to fund their development. They are pushed to heavily tax rivals to oil, gas and coal. The corporate goal is to stall production which discourages ownership.

The basic principle of a corporation is to expand without end. While peculiarly labeled a person by Congress, they are a mechanical process. People at the corporate top have enormous salaries so are seduced into repeating and possibly even believing tales of their destructive product’s harmlessness. Most newspapers are owned by corporations which shape the news. What they say is slanted. One has to read very widely about what is happening to the environment to understand our current climate instability. It is best to read what is written by members of groups not ensconced in Washington which have joined the “get mine” crowd.

Unfortunately and probably commonly, a sell-out occurs where profit is available, even for those who feature an image of sacrifice. For example, The National Audubon Society inherited property that had oil. The Audubon Society drilled thirty-seven wells in the Paul J. Rainey Wilderness Sanctuary in Louisiana alone. The group’s efforts have produced one successful crude oil well, and fifteen successful natural gas wells, which bring $2 million into Audubon’s coffers annually. The public is generally not aware of this and Audubon does not readily volunteer the information. According to Audubon, digging for oil not OK if it is done by someone else somewhere else.

Would you trust a person who claims to be on the side of integration who belongs to the Ku Klux Clan on weekends?

Do not fall for exaggerated claims, for gilded images, false promises, scenes arranged by producers to please and convince you. Ask questions. Make comparisons. Do outside investigation so as not to be caught by grandiose statements, humanitarian promises and possible lies. If it takes time, take time. Do not be rushed to decide.

Let pride not figure in your education. Don’t be proud of what you know. Discard the old when it doesn’t work. Try things out. Move onto the new. Do not be wed to the past. The more you look, the more you see. Scary but exciting.